DR. MOHD SHAHWAHID (DMS) | Assalamualaikum and a very good morning. We are most honoured to be here with Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, the Non-Executive Independent Chairman and Director of AirAsia X, Chairman of Supermax Corporation Berhad, and Malaysiaâs former Minister of International Trade and Industry. To start this interview, Tan Sri, please tell us about your family background.
TAN SRI RAFIDAH AZIZ (TSR) | I had a very normal childhood. I was not much of a child, however; I matured very fast. I donât remember playing with dolls or toys, but I do remember requesting for a pen or a pencil set for my birthday. I liked anything to do with writing!
I played with the boys in my neighbourhood. In Kampung Baru, I played kites with the late Jamal Pendek1 and his brothers. I spun tops which I made from the branches of the pokok jambu batu (guava tree) near my house. I played with marbles, kotak rokok (a game involving discarded cigarette boxes), and enjoyed other games that girls usually didnât play. I never thought that I was different because I was the only girl in the group, and the boys never thought that I was different either.
Other than those games, I often pretended to be a teacher. I was a six-year old girl playing the role of teacher, asking younger kids, âNow, what is two plus two?â. That was my childhood.
I learned responsibility at an early age. When I was around eight or nine years old, my mother sent me off to the market every Sunday morning with a list of things to buy, because she was busy doing other chores at home. I was instructed to carefully choose fish, shellfish, vegetables, and tofu. It was not a big deal to me. I carried a bamboo basket and jotted the list in a pocketbook. It was the kind of pocketbook where we kept track of our debts to shopkeepers, for example, groceries we bought on credit, like sugar, flour, and rice. In this way, I assumed responsibility at a very young age without any conscious realisation. It seemed normal to my parents and me.
Before I went to school, I cooked breakfast. I boiled water using firewood, laid out the tablecloth on the floor, and placed our breakfast and coffee on it. If I felt like eating fried rice, I cooked leftover rice. I always cooked some for my parents. At eight years old, I was ironing my own clothes. It was really adulthood at a young age but it seemed perfectly normal. My three other siblings didnât have to do any of these tasks unless they were told.
They had what you would call a ânormalâ childhood. Maybe I was born different. Maybe I was an old person born into a childâs body.
When I was in school, I didnât play with friends during recess. Instead, I went to the library and read books. When I was in Kota Bharu, Datoâ Nik Ishak was my Standard Four teacher. He had just returned from Kirkby Teachersâ College in Liverpool, UK. During recess, I would see whether he had finished eating and if he had, I would go up to the class and we would chat. I enjoyed chatting with him. I canât remember what it was exactly that we talked about, but it was not some childish chatter! Datoâ Nik Ishak later on named his daughter after me so I must have struck a chord in his heart. I was also active in uniformed bodies such as Girl Guides, Rangers, and Red Cross, and took part in almost every activity at school.
1Jamal Muhamad was a TV personality best-known for his role as Speaker in the Mini Parliament series